It has been three years since the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed within the UK and almost two years since the last UK-wide lockdown. Society has largely returned to what it was before the pandemic with the wearing of facemasks and social distancing a distant memory. Yet for people in prison, it is a struggle to return to ‘normality’.
A recent report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons into weekends in prison shows that access to purposeful activity – activities that prisoners do within prison such as education and employment – has never been as low as it is now. While society on the outside has moved forward and returned to pre-pandemic normality (although with some perhaps lasting legacies of the pandemic still shaping environments, such as hybrid working), prisons appear to be stuck with regimes that were shaped by COVID-19. Prisoners are locked up in cells for significant lengths of time during the week and especially at the weekend, reducing the opportunity for individuals within prison to engage in activities that are designed to help them rehabilitate.
This is the first thematic inspection report to explore what life is like on the weekend for people in prison. Most HMIP inspections take place from Monday to Friday and therefore the inspection reports that are published are in essence just a snapshot of what life is like within prison. Given that prisoners are behind bars for seven days a week, this report is an interesting read into what is happening over the course of the weekend within these institutions.
Despite the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions across the prison system (they were one of the last institutions to have them lifted, arguably in recognition that in a similar manner to a care home, COVID-19 can spread rapidly in a prison as it is a closed environment), it appears as though prisons are locking prisoners within cells to manage other problems within the system. The HMIP report discloses that of the more than 6,000 prisoners surveyed in 2022–23, 60 per cent of men told the inspectors that they spent less than two hours out of their cell on a typical Saturday or Sunday, compared with 42 per cent during the week. This figure is particularly surprising when compared with pre-pandemic levels: it is more than double the proportion in the year before the pandemic (28 per cent). There also appears to be a gendered element to this too, with the report finding that the effect on women in prison was even starker; they were now four times more likely to say that they received less than two hours out of their cells at the weekends.
According to the Prison Service rules, ‘prisoners must be afforded time out of their living accommodation, time in the open air and the opportunity for family contact’. This is particularly important in prisons which are overcrowded. Individuals are sharing cells designed for one person, with consequent cramped space and lack of privacy. The stresses and strains that this causes on individuals both mentally and physically will be exacerbated by increased amounts of time being locked in those conditions. There is a high propensity therefore for increased levels of violence, self-harm and risk of suicide through the overuse of locking individuals for sustained periods of time behind their cell doors.
If prisons are already limiting time out of cell during the week, which HMIP evidence shows that they are, the prospects for any purposeful activity available to them is slim, resulting in a significant impact on the reduction of their reoffending risk. The report shows that even when prisoners were allowed out of their cells for association, activities were limited. Libraries were closed, recreational equipment was broken or unavailable and a lack of staff meant there were limited options of what prisoners could do. Of particular concern was the finding that prisoners who were struggling had few opportunities to get the attention of a member of staff without pressing their emergency call bell. Weekends are when staffing is at its lowest and the presence of management limited. Staffing within the prison system has been in crisis for a number of years with the pandemic only exacerbating the problem. There is a significant shortage of officers needed to run effective and safe regimes. Those who do work in prison are doing a difficult job in challenging circumstances and should be credited for trying to facilitate at least a minimal weekend regime.
This report reveals the negative impact of the pandemic on our prison system and the failure to return prisons to pre-pandemic regimes. Despite these regimes being far from ideal, they were still more facilitating of purposeful activity and time out of cell then the current ones in place. With levels of self-harm reaching record levels and prisoner wellbeing at record lows, the impact that prolonged periods of cell confinement is having on prisoner mental health is extremely concerning. With projected forecasts of the prison population increasing to levels beyond current capacity, it is time for the prison service to act, urgently, to provide more access to purposeful activity so that vulnerable prisoners are not being left in emotional turmoil and at risk of deteriorating mental health.
Rachel Vipond is Lecturer in Criminal Justice and Social Policy at the University of York.
A Guide to Prisons and Penal Policy by Rachel Vipond is available on the Bristol University Press website. Order here for £21.99.
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